“He sits behind us, and his name is Steele,” I say, rolling my eyes with a grin.
Anna giggles and flicks her honey brown braid over her shoulder. “So not him, then.”
“No. Not him, Anna.”
I’m practically buzzingwith excitement by the time recess finishes the next day, and I arrive at my physics class two minutes before the bell, earlier than I’ve ever arrived to class before. I push the door open with trembling fingers, urging the butterflies in my tummy to simmer down for a moment before they make me take flight, but they don’t listen to me in the slightest. My plan is to be the first one to arrive so I can watch every student as they enter, instead of being one of the last to rush in and being forced to take the only seat that’s ever available at the front of the class. Mr Robson, who’s already seated behind his desk when I enter, is a serial spitter and I always have to push my chair all the way back to make sure I don’t get a spray during his lectures.So gross. Yet, me being me, I still never get here early enough to avoid it, always needing to milk every last second out of recess.
After nodding hello to a surprised Mr Robson, I turn to scope the seating layout to choose my ideal location for student watching when I spot him. All the way in the back corner, sitting at the farthest desk with his head down, is Zayn. My heart flips and blood rushes in my ears as I clench my books tighter to my chest and slowly move towards him. He looks so attractive sitting there, poring over his book. Mixed with the giddiness that’s skittering over my skin is a wave of relief. Since I met Zayn, I’ve been worried that I’m some asshole that may have subconsciously overlooked him because of his shabby clothes, but now I know that I didn’t notice Zayn because hemakeshimself invisible. I never would have seen him skulking around in the dark corners of the classroom.
He doesn’t notice me until I pull out the chair next to him.
“Is this seat taken?”
His head snaps up and his dark eyes find mine. Shock registers on his face before he masks it quickly and turns back to his book.
“No.”
I pull the chair out and plonk my books on top of the desk, my heart threatening to beat out of my chest as I take a seat next to him. My bare arm accidentally grazes against his. He responds by shifting slightly away from me and continuing to read his book. By now other students have started to trickle in and I sit quietly, waiting for Mr Robson to start the class, hyperaware of Zayn’s every movement beside me.
Thirty minutes into class, after one lecture and a thousand stolen glances from the corner of my eye to the beautiful, sullen boy sitting next to me, we’re asked to pair off and complete the task sheet in our workbooks.
“Partner?” I turn to ask Zayn.
He eyes me warily before answering, “Okay.”
The red-haired guy with thin glasses sitting in front of us, the only one who greeted Zayn when he walked in the classroom, turns to Zayn now and asks if he wants to partner up.
“I’m with her,” Zayn responds, giving a small nod in my direction. The red-head turns to me with round eyes. “W -with Gianna?”
I blink, shocked that this guy knows my name, yet I’m sure I’ve never even seen him around the school before. This seems to be becoming a common occurrence for me.
“Apparently,” Zayn responds.
Red-head slowly turns back to the front of the class and I crack open my text book as Zayn does the same.
“What’s his name?” I mutter out of the corner of my mouth.
Zayn glances at me, and I swear there’s mischief dancing in his dark eyes.
“Percy.”
My hands fly to my mouth as I stifle back a giggle. Zayn studies my reaction with a quirked brow, and if I’m not mistaken, he’s fighting back his own amusement.
“You’re messing with me right?” My voice comes out as a muffled whisper from behind my fingers. “As in Weasley?”
“LikeWeasley, yes.” His eyes dance over my face as my giggles erupt, and more than a few heads turn in our direction while I try to calm myself down by thinking of things that are completely unfunny, unlike the nerdy red-head who’s name is Percy.
Electromagnetic radiation. Infrared radiation. Thermal radiation.
Zayn, who also seems to notice the attention, sinks deeper into his chair as my giggles slowly subside and I discreetly wipe the tears from my eyes. At least I’ll never forget Zayn’s friend’s name.
We refocus on the task at hand and there’s an awkward moment when I realise the page we need has been ripped out of Zayn’s second-hand text-book. I just slide mine between us and ask him if he knows what electromagnetic radiation is.
We discuss the questions, and as I listen to Zayn speak it’s glaringly obvious that he’s very intelligent. My stomach stays in a constant state of wild fluttering, and it isn’t until class is nearly finished that I work up the courage to ask him about this afternoon.
“Will you be at the gazebo after school?”
I finish writing my sentence with hyper focus as I wait anxiously for a response.
